Fill Me [Dungeon Masters 3] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) (11 page)

“Did you have it professionally designed?” asked one man.

“Has it got a decent shopping cart?” asked the one who’d mentioned the cheesecake.

“Yes, and yes, but I had it made when I first started the store. The store has expanded and developed and likely the website should as well.”

Once again the conversation became general as people spoke about their own websites.

Ryia relaxed and sat back. She’d never been part of conversations like this before. Likely there’d been occasions when she could have while she was at college, but she’d been totally focused on learning as much as she could and passing her course so she could open her store. But this was what her new life should look like. Her, with friends, going to events, eating nice meals in pleasant surroundings, and making new friends among people with similar interests to hers.

Not that Asher and Elijah would likely even remember her name in a week or two. This was strictly a weekend romance. But that wouldn’t stop her going to bed with them again tonight, if they asked her. Already she craved their touch like an addict craved drugs.

Elijah had spent hours during the day, while attending sessions he found totally unrelated to and unhelpful for his job, planning how to romance Ryia. He wanted something that hinted at BDSM without being strong enough to frighten her. Half of the power of BDSM was what happened in the sub’s head during the scene. Even though Ryia was not a sub, not theirs—yet—or anyone else’s, she was a very intelligent woman with some knowledge of the genre. Therefore he could rely on her clever mind absorbing and working through whatever challenges he and Asher gave her.

He hoped she’d agree to being handcuffed. He had a lovely pair of purple fluffy handcuffs that would look perfect on her delicate wrists. Apart from that, whatever happened needed to be in the staging of the scene. He wasn’t even convinced she’d let him spank her. He really needed to know a hell of a lot more about the ex. Had he physically abused her? Was he someone in the lifestyle who’d tried to get her to participate and become abusive when she’d declined? He could make some terrible errors if he didn’t know the truth about her. Apart from that, she fascinated him and he simply wanted to know all about her because he cared for her. And he knew the same was true of Asher. They understood each other so well almost all the time. He could frequently guess what Asher would want to do. Not invariably. Every now and then the man slammed him with a surprise right out of left field. But mostly they were tuned to the same wavelength.

After the speeches, a band began to play and many people went out onto the dance floor. A lot of people weren’t accompanied by a partner and danced with a friend of the same gender, or alone. Other people table-hopped to talk to friends or continue networking. Or simply to sit and drink. Elijah offered his arm to Ryia. “Would you like to dance?”

“No, thank you. I won’t mind if you go ask someone else.”

“What about me? Will you dance with me then, please?” asked Asher. Elijah knew he had on his best “I’m so sweet and harmless” look on his face. That floppy blond hair and those big blue eyes helped him get away with a hell of a lot more than Elijah ever managed to do.

Again Ryia shook her head.

“Why not?” asked Elijah.

She seemed a little embarrassed then straightened her spine in a manner he was coming to recognize. “I don’t know how to dance and I don’t want to just stand and wiggle on a dance floor. But as I said, I’ll be perfectly happy to sit and watch if you both wish to dance with someone else.”

“You don’t need to know how to dance. This isn’t a competition,” said Asher.

Ryia just smiled.

This might be a time when I can learn more about her.
“I thought everyone had compulsory dance lessons before the prom. I can remember being dragged along kicking and screaming to dance lessons. And then I learned we had to wear neckties and dress pants and leather shoes. I felt sure my parents would refuse to buy me all that stuff and I’d get out of going to the lessons, but my mom drove me straight down to the store and picked out a passel of clothing and told me to go get dressed,” said Elijah.

“Hell, yes. I’d forgotten that. Kids were phoning their moms and begging them to come back and bring them button-down shirts and neckties at the first session. There was like, twenty kids standing out front of the dance studio all on their cell phones to their moms,” said Asher.

“How did you avoid dancing at your prom?” The question was burning a hole in Elijah’s brain.

“I didn’t graduate high school. I left just before the end of my junior year.”

It seemed like she’d missed out most of the story so Elijah waited for her to finish telling it.

“My dad was very ill,” Ryia said softly.

“And you had to nurse him? Your mom couldn’t get time off work?”

“My mom left when I was ten. She fell in love with a man who wasn’t interested in kids, but I was happy staying with my dad anyway.”

That’s right. She’d seemed sad when she mentioned her mom and the perfume to him earlier on. Now he knew what had saddened her.

“Did he recover?” Asher asked softly as he reached for her hand.

She shook her head. “He was only ill for a few months before he died. The cancer was too advanced for there to be any hope for him. That’s why—”

Elijah took her other hand, gently stroking his thumb over her skin as he waited for her to finish her sentence.

“My dad was worried about leaving me alone. I was seventeen. He urged me to marry a man he admired. Miles was quite a bit older than me, thirty, and Dad thought he’d be a good husband. That didn’t work out. But I was really glad that Dad died thinking he’d provided for my future. And in a way, he had.”

“So Miles was the ex who filled your mind with derogatory statements about yourself and who damaged your self-esteem. And he’s your ex-husband,” said Asher.

Ryia pulled her hands from theirs and shook her head. “It’s more complicated than that.”

“That’s all right. We have hours yet. Take your time and explain it to us,” said Elijah. He smiled at her, trying to fill her with the confidence to talk about this Miles. The man had really harmed her mind and needed to be shown up for the asshole he must have been. Elijah was more than happy to point out his faults and lies to Ryia. She was such a beautiful person and she needed to know that.

“My dad and Miles organized the wedding. It was in the garden of my home and some of my friends helped me pick out a white gown and flowers for my hair and all that sort of thing. We had a celebrant, who was a friend of Miles’s, and caterers for the food, and all the usual things that go with a wedding. The sun shone and everyone said how handsome Miles was and what a perfect husband he’d make for me.”

“But he wasn’t.” Asher spoke firmly.

Ryia spoke very carefully. “I was very young, very stupid, and likely a real drag on him. Nothing I did was how he liked it. No matter how hard I tried I kept making mistakes. And of course, he hated how very fat I was. But he certainly didn’t love me. I left him in the end, after I finally understood I would never make him happy. That’s when I found out our marriage wasn’t even legal. He was still married to his first wife.”

“However, did he manage to fill out all the paperwork for his wedding with you and forget about her? And the celebrant had to have known as well,” asked Elijah. There was no way he’d ever ignore Ryia. She was too special, too unique. How could the man have forgotten his first marriage? It was impossible.

“I have no idea. I was pretty naïve back then, even after five years with him. Being on my own, though, has taught me to think for myself. I’ve built up my store alone, but I know there’s still so much to learn. That’s why I’m here at this convention. To learn everything I can.”

“Well, you’ve certainly taken enough notes and worked hard enough to qualify for a diploma in Paying Attention at Conferences,” teased Asher.

“The real question is, are you ready yet to move on in your private life? Asher and I would very much like to entertain you in our room again tonight. There are some adult games we could play together. Are you interested in that?” asked Elijah. He stared deep into her violet eyes, hoping she’d say yes. Waiting and watching for any hint of how she felt about his suggestion.

* * * *

Asher wanted to hold her hand again, but he wasn’t sure how she’d view that. She meant so much to him already. It was impossible to believe they’d only known her for a few days. It seemed like she’d been a part of him forever. He certainly wanted her to remain with him for the rest of their lives. But first she had to accept that. There was also the not insignificant fact that Elijah was a wolf. Asher wasn’t sure how they were going to explain that to her. But right now was for learning all about her. Once he knew how her mind worked, what she wanted out of her life, then he’d be able to do much more to please her. He wanted to take her back to the dungeons and show her how very good BDSM could be as well.

That would be the next step. Tomorrow the conference concluded in the afternoon. He needed her to agree to come to The Dom’s Dungeon with them and explore some of the toys there. After that they’d work on the whole wolf thing. Once she understood that they’d never hurt her.

“Spending last night with you both was the first time I’d been with anyone other than Miles. So I consider I’ve already moved on, at least to some extent.”

“And tonight? Will you come with us again tonight?” asked Asher.

Ryia smiled. He’d take that a yes.

“Are you willing to play with a few toys as well?” asked Elijah.

“I think so, but I can’t be sure how I’ll react when the time comes. Some of them might bring back unhappy memories.”

“We’ll take it as a challenge to remove those old memories and replace them with good ones.”

Asher whispered almost in her ear, knowing the wolf’s extra sharp hearing would enable him to follow the conversation, “Memories of you climaxing again and again on our hands, our mouths, our cocks.”

“Uh-huh.”

Asher left the conversation there, wanting her to have plenty of time to decide how she felt before they went upstairs. Not long after that the music stopped, the MC spoke about the next morning’s keynote speaker, and then advertised next year’s conference. Coffee was served and people started leaving.

Elijah stood up. “Shall we go?”

Ryia looked around the ballroom and nodded. Asher estimated one third of the people had already left and he guessed possibly one quarter would stay as long as the free alcohol was served. He agreed with Elijah that now was the perfect time to go. Not one of the first but not one of the last either. Besides, they might even be able to use the elevators. Hopefully the line waiting for them would be a manageable length.

Two elevators arrived simultaneously just as they reached them. All the people waiting crowded onto the first one, leaving the three of them alone in the second one.

“Wow. This is the first time the elevator hasn’t been packed out. Although I’ve been taking the stairs when I only want to go up or down a couple of floors.”

“We have as well. The convention must have pretty much filled this hotel I reckon,” said Elijah.

“Phoenix said all the ordinary rooms were booked out. I don’t know about the suites.”

Asher let Elijah lead the way. He wasn’t going to mention he’d been the one who’d chosen their more expensive Jacuzzi room. But already it’d come in very useful last night and hopefully it’d be just as well used tonight, too.

Once they were inside the room, Elijah turned Ryia to face them both.

“Ryia, we both want you very much. I’ve never met a woman who draws me into herself the way you do. Will you let us play a BDSM game with you? Tomorrow after the convention finishes, I’d like to take you to The Dom’s Dungeon and let you explore one of the dungeons. But first, I want you to experience how very freeing it can be to leave your stress and strivings aside and let Asher and me make all the decisions for you.”

“I won’t be gagged. I will have a safe word and if I say it you will both stop immediately.”

“Absolutely. The Dom’s Dungeon is built on the safe, sane, and consensual rule, and we’d never ever do anything you explicitly didn’t want.”

“And you’ll stop immediately if I say my word?”

“I promise.”

“I do, too.”

“Very well. I agree. My safe word is 108 642.”

Asher stared at her. “What kind of a safe word is that?”

“One I need to concentrate to say and therefore will have to make a decision to use. It’ll never just slip out of my mouth without me thinking it through.”

“That’s true. I’m glad you can remember it,” said Elijah.

Asher had bought a jar of aromatic massage oil at the exhibition downstairs, and Elijah agreed it would be a good means of distracting Ryia at the start.

“You can relax her with that while I get the rest of the scene set up,” he’d said.

“Shall I help you out of that dress? It’s very beautiful, and that color is perfect for you, but right now naked is what we have in mind.”

She turned around, lifting her hair off her neck, and Asher slowly unzipped the dress. It was like unwrapping a present. He’d seen her naked the previous night, but he longed to have her naked and in his arms again. One day he’d teach her to dance. Dancing was an excellent method of setting a romantic scene. But for now the aromatic massage oil would have to do. Tomorrow, back at the dungeon, they’d have access to any number of amazing toys to use on her and with her.

Quickly he pulled off his tuxedo and hung the jacket over the back of a chair, folding the trousers and placing them on the seat of the chair, before glancing back to Ryia to see if she was undressed yet. She was unbuckling the straps of her stilettos. Likely he should have offered to do that for her as well, but he hastily pulled off his necktie, unbuttoned the dress shirt, and dropped them on the chair, kicking off his dress shoes and toeing off his socks at the same time.

Then he picked Ryia up, holding her in his arms, hugging her to his chest as he took the few steps across to the bed. Elijah had already pulled the bedding down ready for them.